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Gear / Technical Help => Playback Forum => Topic started by: lsd2525 on August 28, 2023, 12:42:10 PM

Title: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: lsd2525 on August 28, 2023, 12:42:10 PM
I've got an old Pixel 3a phone laying around collecting dust and I'm thinking about trying to turn it into a music player to connect to a bluetooth speaker. Anyone have any suggesting for an app? Looking for something cheap and easy, just like me......
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: dyneq on August 28, 2023, 01:59:26 PM
What version of Android? I like Foobar2000:

https://www.foobar2000.org/apk
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: billydee on August 28, 2023, 02:47:19 PM
I'm still using the Google Play app on my older Samsung Galaxy, works great for streaming to a bluetooth speaker.
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: goodcooker on August 28, 2023, 02:50:03 PM
I've got an old Pixel 3a phone laying around collecting dust and I'm thinking about trying to turn it into a music player to connect to a bluetooth speaker. Anyone have any suggesting for an app? Looking for something cheap and easy, just like me......

I use VLC for this.
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: lsd2525 on August 28, 2023, 04:38:36 PM
I'm still using the Google Play app on my older Samsung Galaxy, works great for streaming to a bluetooth speaker.

So google play will stream content loaded to phone? Thanks
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: lsd2525 on August 28, 2023, 04:39:04 PM
I've got an old Pixel 3a phone laying around collecting dust and I'm thinking about trying to turn it into a music player to connect to a bluetooth speaker. Anyone have any suggesting for an app? Looking for something cheap and easy, just like me......

I use VLC for this.

Thanks, I'll check it out
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: Dan33185 on August 28, 2023, 04:44:03 PM
I use Pulsar or Pi Music Player
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: billydee on August 28, 2023, 05:49:17 PM
I'm still using the Google Play app on my older Samsung Galaxy, works great for streaming to a bluetooth speaker.

So google play will stream content loaded to phone? Thanks
Yes. I copy mp3 files to the phone, drop them in the phone Music folder, and Google Play sees and can play them.
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: mrfender on August 28, 2023, 06:52:15 PM
Second vote for Pi.  Customizable, regular updates, free version ads are pretty minimal on the bottom of the screen.
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: Gordon on September 01, 2023, 12:57:40 PM
Pulsar!
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: voltronic on September 02, 2023, 11:05:41 AM
Muisicolet is my pick for free.

Best overall (not free) is USB Audio Player Pro, if you are using any kind of external DAC (even cheap USB-C to 3.5mm dongles). A lot of people here are probably familiar with the recorder app made by the same people.
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: lsd2525 on September 12, 2023, 01:55:35 PM
What version of Android? I like Foobar2000:

https://www.foobar2000.org/apk

I managed to upgrade the phone to Android 12 right before they stopped supporting it.

Got it paired easy enough to the Honda Accord last night. Then it took me 30 minutes to fiddle with the Accord's settings to get it to actually play what I was playing on the phone. I'm a luddite apparently.
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: dyneq on September 12, 2023, 02:38:58 PM
What version of Android? I like Foobar2000:

https://www.foobar2000.org/apk

I managed to upgrade the phone to Android 12 right before they stopped supporting it.

Got it paired easy enough to the Honda Accord last night. Then it took me 30 minutes to fiddle with the Accord's settings to get it to actually play what I was playing on the phone. I'm a luddite apparently.
After I posted my question, I looked and it supports Android 4.1 and up!

Many automakers' BT implementations suck. Glad to hear that you've got yours dialed in.

I've recently disabled BT on my phone and use AUX input (TRS) instead. Sounds good and conserves battery life on road trips.
Title: Re: Best free music player app for Android?
Post by: voltronic on September 12, 2023, 04:37:09 PM
I forgot to mention before - my favorite free Android player is Musicolet. I was initially drawn to them because of their solid privacy policy - no user data collected and such. But the whole design is excellent.